“Waking up two years ago gave me opportunities, some of which seem obvious but some of which I’m still discovering. I have the opportunity to continue the life I began and do the things I want to do. I have the opportunity to offer help to people who would have helped me if only I had shared what was going on.”

You are not talking about “patients” or “participants” or “transsexuals.” You are talking about people.

If someone commits suicide during the study, I want to read about it in the abstract, not buried in the methods section. So somebody died and didn’t participate in your study – that is not the important story.

Why did they commit suicide? When did they commit suicide – before or after medical treatment? What medical and therapeutic treatments were they getting? Were there any underlying mental health issues that weren’t being treated? Did they need more support during and after transition? Were they properly diagnosed? Did they have depression? Were they trauma survivors?

You don’t get to ignore their death in your conclusions. The person’s death is part of your results. Suicide needs to be reported in your results and it needs to be discussed.

Most of all, you need to talk about what we can do to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts among transgender people.

Remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt

Call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255)

Take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional

Two Years After My Suicide Attempt, I’m Still Living and Sharing

“Waking up two years ago gave me opportunities, some of which seem obvious but some of which I’m still discovering. I have the opportunity to continue the life I began and do the things I want to do. I have the opportunity to offer help to people who would have helped me if only I had shared what was going on.”

Reposting this for the holidays. There have been more trans teenagers and adults who committed suicide since I wrote this article. We need to do anything we can to stop this.

“When Marilyn Monroe died in August 1962, with the cause listed as probable suicide, the nation reacted. In the months afterward, there was extensive news coverage, widespread sorrow and a spate of suicides. According to one study, the suicide rate in the United States jumped by 12 percent compared with the same months in the previous year.

Mental illness is not a communicable disease, but there’s a strong body of evidence that suicide is still contagious. Publicity surrounding a suicide has been repeatedly and definitively linked to a subsequent increase in suicide, especially among young people. Analysis suggests that at least 5 percent of youth suicides are influenced by contagion.”

I am posting this link because last Sunday a transgender teenager committed suicide after posting a suicide note on Tumblr.

This came about a month and a half after another widely discussed case of a transgender teenager who committed suicide after posting a suicide note on Tumblr.

Two days ago another transgender teen posted on Instagram that they were going to commit suicide. They made multiple references to the first two teenagers – they wondered what selfie people would use to talk about them and would they get a hash tag? It is not clear what happened to the third teenager, although they posted a suicide note that was later taken down.

I believe some of my readers are parents of teens. Hug them, love them, compliment them. Talk to them about this issue.

“Waking up two years ago gave me opportunities, some of which seem obvious but some of which I’m still discovering. I have the opportunity to continue the life I began and do the things I want to do. I have the opportunity to offer help to people who would have helped me if only I had shared what was going on.”